Tar Heels, Zavaleta receive top honors

A season-opening shutout win keeps North Carolina atop the TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 48 National Ranking this week. The Tar Heels are listed ahead of fellow winners Connecticut, Maryland and Akron in the latest update of the ranking.

The ranking is an effort to project the postseason NCAA Tournament field of 48 each week, including the automatic qualifiers from every DI conference. The ranking update is posted after reviewing all results from the previous week.

Meanwhile, Eriq Zavaleta of Indiana is our TopDrawerSoccer.com Men’s College Player of the Week after he scored 3 goals to help the Hoosiers defeat Saint Louis and Cincinnati to open their season.

The honor, along with the 11-player Team of the Week, is awarded each week after a review of match reports through DI Men’s Soccer. Zavaleta scored in the team’s 2-1 victory over Saint Louis, and then twice in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat of Cincinnati.